Develop a research strategy and design using appropriate components. Discuss the ethical imperatives of conducting research

Course Syllabus

Course Description

Presents a focused exploration of conducting research. Students are oriented to research practice, methodology, analysis, commonly accepted research values, and the development of a research strategy.

Course Textbook(s)

Devlin, A. S. (2021). The research experience: Planning, conducting, and reporting research (2nd ed.). SAGE. https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781544377933

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

1. Develop a research strategy and design using appropriate components. 2. Discuss the ethical imperatives of conducting research. 3. Examine qualitative and quantitative research methods. 4. Explore the dynamics of data sampling and distributions. 5. Analyze research data through the application of statistics. 6. Analyze a data set in an existing research study. 7. Critique an existing research study.

Prerequisite(s)

No prerequisite courses are required for enrollment in this course.

Credits

Upon completion of this course, the students will earn 3.00 hours of college credit.

CSU Online Library

The CSU Online Library is available to support your courses and programs. You may be prompted to login with your CSU Account. The online library includes databases, journals, e-books, and research guides. These resources are always accessible and can be reached through the library webpage. The CSU Online Library can be accessed from the "My

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Library" button on the course menu in Blackboard.

The CSU Online Library offers several reference services. E-mail ([email protected]) and telephone (1.877.268.8046) assistance is available Monday-Thursday from 8 am to 5 pm and Friday from 8 am to 3 pm. The library's chat reference service, Ask a Librarian, is available 24/7; look for the chat box on the online library page.

Librarians can help you develop your research plan or assist you in finding relevant, appropriate, and timely information. Reference requests can include customized keyword search strategies, database help, and other services.

LibGuides

Think of a LibGuide (a Library Guide) as a mini-website to help you with your assignments. It has relevant information such as databases, e-books, and websites specific to your courses. If you have any questions, please reach out to your friendly library staff.

Click here for the LibGuide for this course.

Unit Assignments

Unit I Proposal

For this assignment, you will select a problem or question that needs answering by drawing from science-based aspects of your personal life or your professional life. This problem or question will form the foundation on which you will build your subsequent assignments in this course.

First, determine and explain the purpose of your proposed research.

Second, develop the research problem and research question. Explain any relevant background insights you have gathered to develop the problem statement and question.

Third, compare qualitative and quantitative research methods. Choose which you feel would work best for this research proposal, and explain why.

Finally, offer possible approaches that could be used in your research. Explain the rationale for your choices.

Your proposal must be at least three pages in length. You must use a minimum of three academically reliable sources to support your proposal. Adhere to APA Style when creating citations and references for this assignment. APA formatting, however, is not necessary. Please note that no abstract is needed.

Unit II Scholarly Activity

In this unit's assignment, you will continue building the research plan you started to develop in Unit I. In a scholarly paper, you will plan your research to answer questions and/or solve problems by addressing the criteria below.

First, you will design a hypothesis of what you believe will happen in terms of observed change if the study proceeds. Second, you will develop a null hypothesis that shows that nothing will change. Third, explain how and why your proposed study incorporates ethics. Finally, how do you expect a standard institutional review board to approve or ask for changes to your research proposal?

Your scholarly activity must be at least two pages in length. It must be supported by the use of at least three sources, one of which must come from the CSU Online Library. Adhere to APA Style when creating citations and references for this assignment. APA formatting, however, is not necessary. Please note that no abstract is needed.

Unit III Literature Review

Continuing your work on the research plan you have been developing in Units I and II, you will now write a literature review for this unit’s assignment.

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First, conduct research to locate at least five relevant sources that can contribute to your research study.

You must use high-quality sources such as peer-reviewed articles and empirical studies (quantitative and/or qualitative). At least four sources must be published within the last 5 years. At least two of your sources must come from the CSU Online Library.

Your literature review must be at least two pages in length.

Ensure that you critically evaluate each source as well as explain why each source was selected and how it is of value to your research topic. Thoroughly compare and contrast your findings. Identify any gaps (what is unknown or needs to be researched further) and controversies that exist in the literature.

Adhere to APA Style when creating citations and references for this assignment. APA formatting, however, is not necessary.

This review of literature example from the CSU Writing Center shows this type of formatting.

Unit IV PowerPoint Presentation

For this assignment, you will create a PowerPoint presentation of your research plan that you have been developing in Units I–III. You will be amending and updating this PowerPoint presentation in future units.

Your PowerPoint presentation must contain the elements below:

a title and introduction slide, nine slides of content (refer to the unit lesson for a sample format), and reference slide(s).

Your presentation should clearly demonstrate your plan to answer your research question and show the hypotheses.

It should demonstrate your understanding of the different types of research methods and approaches by explaining your rationale in your selections.

It should demonstrate your understanding of data sampling and distributions.

You must use a minimum of two sources, in addition to any literature presented as a part of the plan, to support your presentation. You must utilize the Slide Notes function in PowerPoint to add speaker notes to each slide that you would use to explain and expand on slide content as if you were actually presenting this plan to the institutional review board.

Alternatively, you may add audio to the slides, but if you do so, you will need to provide a transcript of your audio in a separate document and upload it in Blackboard with the PowerPoint presentation file.

You must use at least two sources to support your presentation.

Adhere to APA Style when creating citations and references for this assignment. APA formatting, however, is not necessary.

Unit V Project

Continuing with the research plan you have been developing in Units I–IV, the assignment in this unit requires you to revise and refine the data analysis slide from your Unit IV PowerPoint Presentation and then explain your data analysis plan in depth.

You must first revise your data analysis slide to give a clearer picture of your plan.

You may refer to the Unit V Lesson for a suggested data analysis framework, or you can create your own. You may expand the data analysis section of your PowerPoint to include up to two additional slides.

Next, after you have revised your PowerPoint slides, you will then write a two-page persuasive and detailed description of your data analysis plan in a Word document.

You must start with an introduction and then provide a discussion that demonstrates strong evidence of critical thinking. Explain your choices and strategy for data analysis. Explain the data sampling and distribution aspects of your plan. You must use at least three academically reliable sources to support your discussion, one of which must come from the CSU Online Library.

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Finally, you will insert only your revised PowerPoint slides into your Word document as an Appendix. Inserting the revised slides as an image or object will suffice; you do not need to embed the active slides, and do not add the entire presentation.

Your written paper must be at least two pages in length, not counting the title or reference pages or the Appendix.

Adhere to APA Style when creating citations and references for this assignment. APA formatting, however, is not necessary.

Unit VI Reflection Paper

For this assignment, you will write a reflection paper in which you give in-depth consideration and personalization of the imperative for ethics in your proposed research.

Be sure your reflection addresses the information below.

Explore potential ethics issues that could affect your research. Discuss how various stakeholders can affect ethics in the research process. Prescribe a code of ethics that could guide you in your research. Evaluate the imperative for ethics in post-research activities (i.e., publication, follow-on research)

Your reflection paper should be insightful and supported with a minimum of two academically reliable sources (other than your textbook). Your reflection should be scholarly in nature and demonstrate a critical analysis of ethics in research.

Your written paper must be at least two pages in length, not counting the title or reference pages.

Adhere to APA Style when creating citations and references for this assignment. APA formatting, however, is not necessary.

Unit VII Case Study

Using the CSU Online Library, search for and choose a research report or doctoral dissertation from a database in the CSU Online Library. You may choose a report or dissertation on any subject matter that interests you; however, it must meet the criteria below.

The report/dissertation must be original research and not a review of another researcher’s work. The report/dissertation must have been published within the last 8 years. The research must have utilized a quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-method approach. The report/dissertation must be of adequate length and content to be able to critique all of the requirements below.

Note: Dissertations are accessible in the Dissertations and Theses Global database. You are encouraged to explore the resources in the section “Helpful Library Tools” on the CSU Online Library home page for help in searching the library’s databases.

Once you have selected and thoroughly reviewed the report/dissertation, you will write a critique. At a minimum, you must include the information below.

In your own words, give a brief summary of the research. Assess the research methods employed by the researcher, explaining why you agree with his or her choices or what alternatives you would propose. Assess the researcher’s data collection and analysis methods, explaining why you agree with his or her choices or what alternatives you would propose. Examine the data sets in the research. Do you agree that they support the researcher’s findings? Why, or why not? Assess the effectiveness of the overall research design, data analysis, conclusions, and recommendations. Evaluate the report/dissertation for effectiveness in presenting the author’s research. Suggest specific follow-on research that can build upon the findings in the report/dissertation.

Your case study must be at least four, but no more than five, pages in length—not counting the title and reference pages. Your case study must present an insightful and thorough analysis with strong arguments and evidence and must clearly apply the concepts covered in this course. In addition to the selected report/dissertation, you must use at least three academically reliable sources. At least one of these additional sources must also come from the CSU Online Library.

Adhere to APA Style when creating citations and references for this assignment. APA formatting, however, is not necessary. Please note that no abstract is needed.

This Case Study Example provided by the CSU Writing Center shows this type of formatting.

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Unit VIII PowerPoint Presentation

For this assignment, you will be updating and amending the PowerPoint presentation you submitted for your Unit V Project.

First, in order to conclude the research process, you will need to explore what the research data collection and analysis may have yielded. Be careful to simulate realistic data and not to create data to fit a pre-drawn conclusion. Update the data collection/analysis slides to show the new information.

Then, you will add at least four more slides for the following areas:

limitations and/or biases in the study, findings and implications of the study, recommendations, and suggestions for further research.

Next, update and finalize any other previous slides as needed to complete your research presentation. Be sure the title and reference slides are also updated.

You must use at least two academically reliable sources to support the information on your new slides. You must utilize the Slide Notes function in PowerPoint to add speaker notes to each slide that you would use to explain and expand on slide content as if you were actually presenting this research report to leadership.

Alternatively, you may add audio to the slides, but if you do so, you will need to provide a transcript of your audio in a separate Word document and upload it in Blackboard with the PowerPoint presentation file.

Adhere to APA Style when creating citations and references for this assignment. APA formatting, however, is not necessary.

APA Guidelines

The application of the APA writing style shall be practical, functional, and appropriate to each academic level, with the primary purpose being the documentation (citation) of sources. CSU requires that students use APA style for certain papers and projects. Students should always carefully read and follow assignment directions and review the associated grading rubric when available. The CSU Citation Guide includes examples and sample papers and provides information on how to contact the CSU Writing Center.

Grading Rubrics

This course utilizes analytic grading rubrics as tools for your professor in assigning grades for all learning activities. Each rubric serves as a guide that communicates the expectations of the learning activity and describes the criteria for each level of achievement. In addition, a rubric is a reference tool that lists evaluation criteria and can help you organize your efforts to meet the requirements of that learning activity. It is imperative for you to familiarize yourself with these rubrics because these are the primary tools your professor uses for assessing learning activities.

Rubric categories include (1) Discussion Board, (2) Assessment (Written Response), and (3) Assignment. However, it is possible that not all of the listed rubric types will be used in a single course (e.g., some courses may not have Assessments).

The Discussion Board rubric can be found within Unit I’s Discussion Board submission instructions.

The Assessment (Written Response) rubric can be found embedded in a link within the directions for each Unit Assessment. However, these rubrics will only be used when written-response questions appear within the Assessment.

Each Assignment type (e.g., article critique, case study, research paper) will have its own rubric. The Assignment rubrics are built into Blackboard, allowing students to review them prior to beginning the Assignment and again once the Assignment has been scored. This rubric can be accessed via the Assignment link located within the unit where it is to be submitted. Students may also access the rubric through the course menu by selecting “Tools” and then “My Grades.”

Again, it is vitally important for you to become familiar with these rubrics because their application to your Discussion Boards, Assessments, and Assignments is the method by which your instructor assigns all grades.

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Communication Forums

Overview

These are non-graded discussion forums that allow you to communicate with your professor and other students. Participation in these discussion forums is encouraged, but not required. You can access these forums with the buttons in the Course Menu. Instructions for subscribing/unsubscribing to these forums are provided below.

Click here for instructions on how to subscribe/unsubscribe and post to the Communication Forums.

Ask the Professor

This communication forum provides you with an opportunity to ask your professor general or course content questions. Questions may focus on Blackboard locations of online course components, textbook or course content elaboration, additional guidance on assessment requirements, or general advice from other students.

Questions that are specific in nature, such as inquiries regarding assessment/assignment grades or personal accommodation requests, are NOT to be posted on this forum. If you have questions, comments, or concerns of a non- public nature, please feel free to email your professor. Responses to your post will be addressed or emailed by the professor within 48 hours.

Before posting, please ensure that you have read all relevant course documentation, including the syllabus, assessment/assignment instructions, faculty feedback, and other important information.

Student Break Room

This communication forum allows for casual conversation with your classmates. Communication on this forum should always maintain a standard of appropriateness and respect for your fellow classmates. This forum should NOT be used to share assessment answers.

Schedule/Grading

The following pages contain a printable Course Schedule to assist you through this course. By following this schedule, you will be assured that you will complete the course within the time allotted.

Unit I Research and Research Methods [ Weight: 12% ]

Read/View: Unit I Study Guide Chapter 1: Research, Biases in Thinking, and the Role of Theories, pp. 3-5, 8-28 Chapter 2: Generating and Shaping Ideas: Tradition and Innovation, pp. 34-38, 62-64 Chapter 3: Research Design Approaches and Issues: An Overview, pp. 79-81

Discuss: Unit I Discussion Board 2%

Submit: Unit I Proposal 10%

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Unit II The Research Process and Ethics [ Weight: 11% ]

Read/View: Unit II Study Guide Chapter 2: Generating and Shaping Ideas: Tradition and Innovation, p. 71 Chapter 3: Research Design Approaches and Issues: An Overview, pp. 80-95 Chapter 4: Ethics and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) Process, pp. 111-119 Chapter 7: Correlational Research and Specialized Nonexperimental Designs, pp. 203–210 Chapter 8: Qualitative Research, pp. 233-241 Unit Resource (1 article): See Study Guide

Discuss: Unit II Discussion Board 2%

Submit: Unit II Scholarly Activity 9%

Unit III The Literature Review [ Weight: 11% ]

Read/View: Unit III Study Guide Chapter 2: Generating and Shaping Ideas: Tradition and Innovation, pp. 34-43, 49-56 Unit Resources (3 articles): See Study Guide

Discuss: Unit III Discussion Board 2%

Submit: Unit III Literature Review 9%

Unit IV Research Plan and Introduction to Data Sampling [ Weight: 12% ]

Read/View: Unit IV Study Guide Chapter 2: Generating and Shaping Ideas: Tradition and Innovation, p. 32 Chapter 5: Measurement: Qualities of Measures, pp. 153-158 Chapter 8: Qualitative Research, pp. 233-242 Chapter 11: Recruiting Participants, pp. 340-341 Appendix A: Decision Tree for Statistical Analysis, pp. 449-450 Unit Resource (1 article): See Study Guide

Discuss: Unit IV Discussion Board 2%

Submit: Unit IV PowerPoint Presentation 10%

Unit V Data Collection, Data Analysis, and Statistics [ Weight: 12% ]

Read/View: Unit V Study Guide Chapter 12: Organizing Data and Analyzing Results, pp. 361–368 Appendix G: Scale Types and Associated Statistical Analyses for Common Research Approaches, pp. 472–474 Unit Resources (2 articles, 1 eBook): See Study Guide

Discuss: Unit V Discussion Board 2%

Submit: Unit V Project 10%

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Unit VI Ethical Considerations in Research [ Weight: 11% ]

Read/View: Unit VI Study Guide Unit Resources (2 articles, 1 eBook): See Study Guide

Discuss: Unit VI Discussion Board 2%

Submit: Unit VI Reflection Paper 9%

Unit VII Writing and Presenting Research [ Weight: 16% ]

Read/View: Unit VII Study Guide Chapter 13: Writing and Presenting Your Research, pp. 401-427 Unit Resource (1 eBook): See Study Guide

Discuss: Unit VII Discussion Board 2%

Submit: Unit VII Case Study 14%

Unit VIII Conclusion and Recommendations [ Weight: 15% ]

Read/View: Unit VIII Study Guide Unit Resources (3 articles): See Study Guide

Discuss: Unit VIII Discussion Board 2%

Submit: Unit VIII PowerPoint Presentation 13%

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